The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto

In this vigorous polemic, University of Southern California professor of communication and digital media Taplin (Move Fast and Break Things) accuses Marc Andreesen, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg of capitalizing on the low quality of life among America’s poor and working classes by selling them a carefully calculated fantasy. Among other pipe dreams, these “Technocrats” promised that life in the metaverse would be more fulfilling and that an economy based in cryptocurrency would be more equitable. The reality, according to Taplin, is that tech products like crypto and social media only “preserv[e] the status quo” in place since the 1980s—namely chaotic, unregulated free-market liberalism—under which the tech billionaires’ wealth and power has grown. Moreover, Taplin writes, “the rise of social networks correlates with the metastasis of social distrust [and] political polarization” that further entrenches the dominance of these technocrats. Taplin accuses political leaders of being either slow or unwilling to take what he sees as the obvious first steps forward, including breaking up Meta and putting the Securities and Exchange Commission in charge of cryptocurrency. Persuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home. (Sept.)